Bangkok, Thailand - Day 4

On Tuesday, May 12, we awoke at 6AM in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We ate breakfast at the hotel's outdoor restaurant and couldn't believe how warm it was even at 6:30. In my journal from that day, I wrote, "As beautiful as the hotel grounds are, I won't miss the bugs and the transparent poverty."

Cambodia is an interesting place. The hotel did a brilliant job of shielding you from the desolate surroundings. I mentioned this in my blog from our arrival, but the hotel package we bought really considered our every need. And once we entered the hotel, we really felt as if we entered through a portal to another dimension. Each time we left the hotel to go into town, to the Angkor temple complex or even back to the airport, we couldn't turn a blind eye to everything around us. Although we felt there was little we could do at the time, we did make sure to tip Adam (our tuk tuk driver) generously. 

On our way to the Siem Reap airport, it finally dawned on me what those strange road-side stands were that had the 2-litre bottles with lemonade-looking liquid. Any guesses? They were makeshift gas stations. I kid you not. Imagine a long wooden bench with 6-10 soda bottles sitting out on those benches filled with petrol. No regulations. No way to check for cross contamination or purity. I'm still flabbergasted when I think about it. 

The airport also surprised me, although I guess it shouldn't have. Tourists only come to Siem Reap for one reason: Angkor Wat. The small airport shops were so expensive. We paid $5.00 for the smallest dish of ice cream from the Dairy Queen. And yes, the teeny, tiny airport in Cambodia had a dairy queen. 

We flew Air Asia back to Bangkok. The bumpy flight landed around 12:30 in the pouring rain. Something I noticed immediately but haven't mentioned until now is the advertising used on Air Asia planes. Look at the photo below. That is a picture of an overhead bin on the flight. Every, single, one had an ad on it. Can you imagine United or American Airlines doing something like that? In a way, it made the inside of the plane more colorful. And I wonder how much revenue the airline gets from the advertising, especially considering it's a budget airline. Does the advertising make up for the lower ticket costs? 

Air Asia in-cabin advertising

Our third Bangkok hotel was the VIE Hotel Bangkok MGallery which is near the MBK mall and the Siam shopping center. There was nothing fancy about this hotel. We paid $110/night, and I picked this hotel for our final stay in Bangkok because it got good reviews, had a reasonable price, and had a nice central location. You can read my Trip Advisor Review if you're interested in more. Of all the Bangkok hotels we stayed in, this was my least favorite, but it was certainly adequate and recommendable. Inside the bathroom, they had a sign that listed the toiletries they had available if we forgot anything. Can someone tell me one thing, however. What exactly is plaster? :-D I still laugh when I see that picture. I love funny signs in foreign countries.

Sign in hotel bathroom - Bangkok, Thailand

With only a couple of hours left to the day, we went over to the shopping district and played in another one of those Escape Rooms. This one was so much more difficult than the Escape Hunt from Day 2 in Bangkok. What I loved about these places was that you didn't need a special reservation. And you didn't need to pay extra for just 2 people to have the whole room. 

After the escape room, we did some souvenir shopping, and we passed a McDonalds. Nearly every country in the world has a McDonalds. That's not why I took a picture. Look at Ronald. His hands are folded like a Buddhist. THAT was picture-worthy. Haha. 

Buddhist Ronald McDonald - Bangkok, Thailand

Instead of dinner, since we ate lunch around 3, we treated ourselves to giant ice cream sundaes at Swensens.

Thai Ice Cream Sundaes

Just yesterday, we got up before 4AM to see the sunrise at Ankgor Wat. Tomorrow, we would rise nearly as early to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Only a few days left on our trip. Malaysia and Singapore round out our whirlwind tour of South East Asia.

I hope you'll join me for my final few posts!

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Siem Reap & Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Day 2

Angkor Wat is unlike anything you've ever seen or experienced in your life. What's absolutely critical to remember is that you are literally thousands of miles away from the United States (or Western Europe) and any assumptions that come along with that. What am I talking about? And what a strange way to start this particular blog post, yes I know. But when you think about planning to spend a day at a place like Angkor Wat, you have to take into consideration the reality of where you are.

Angkor Wat is a massive temple complex. That means it's not just a handful of buildings in one central location. While Angkor Wat is the name of the main temple, there are no fewer than 25 other named temples throughout the complex. And the entire area is about 500 acres. That's really big. I was trying to think of a good way to help quantify the size. A football field, for example, is about 1.3 acres. Central Park in NYC is 843 acres, so I guess you could say that Angkor Wat is just over half the size of Central Park. Unlike Central Park that is surrounded by a city, however, Angkor Wat is surrounded by jungle.

So, what am I getting at? What am I trying to say? I hear you... "stop rambling" you say. Get to the point. I'm saying that for a place that caters to over 2 million visitors a year, don't expect any amenities. No bathrooms, no where to buy food, no souvenir shops, no picnic areas, no benches, no trashcans, no where to sit (except on the temple rocks themselves), nothing. No handicap access to anything! You are there to see ancient temples...and that's it! What that means, is that you have to have a plan.

I read everywhere that the most popular thing to do is to get up super duper early, see the sunrise, and then head back to your hotel for breakfast. Then around 10:00, the temples get much more crowded with everyone returning. I also read that if you stayed at the temple immediately after sunrise when everyone else returns to their hotels, you practically get the temples to yourself. Truth: since we were there during the peak of summer, we never really dealt with a ton of crowds except at sunrise and sunset.

We got up around 3:30AM and met Adam at 5AM to drive to the temple complex. Like the previous day with the disappointing sunset, we also had a rather disappointing sunrise. Maybe it's the time of year, but we just didn't get those brilliant pinks and reds that you can sometimes see during a sunrise. On our drive into the complex, I snapped this picture.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

By the time we got to the actual main temple and crossed the moat and bridge, this is all the sunrise we saw.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

As the crowd started to dissipate, J and I took every opportunity to head directly into the main temple and explore while it was empty.

Angkor Wat Sunrise Crowd - Cambodia

The giant empty temple and deserted corridors really gave a spiritual and somewhat eery feeling to the whole place. For a few brief moments it felt like time stood still, and we were transported to a time long forgotten.

Empty Corridor at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

A special shoutout to our tuk tuk driver, Adam. I know I mentioned in my previous post that Adam took really good care of us throughout the day. When he picked us up in the morning, he took the water bottles that we brought and put them in the cooler he kept on the back of his motorbike. When we arrived at the first temple, he told us exactly where he'd be waiting for us, and he gave us each a bottle of water that he pre-chilled.

After spending as much time as we liked at Angkor Wat (just the main temple), we met Adam where he said he would be, and from there we continued along what's called the Short Circuit. Although Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples, Angkor Thom is by far the largest city within the complex. On our way to Angkor Thom, Adam stopped at this small structure. I can't remember the name and can't find anything about it in my notes, but I remember him saying something about a "his" and "hers" temples. Throughout the complex, there are so many of these smaller buildings that had some significance to the Khmer rulers at the time. It's sad how much knowledge about these cultures has been lost.

 His/Hers Temple in Angkor - Cambodia

Southeast Asia has no shortage of monkeys. We saw these little guys all over the place, especially in Cambodia and Malaysia. They were by no means friendly or domesticated, but they sure liked mango and knew that tourists were their prime source for getting such sustenance. (Side note - although I mentioned there was no food sold or permitted inside the temple complex, there were a few spots where local women and children sold fresh fruit. For $1.00 you could get a bag of fresh mango or pineapple to eat as you drove. They certainly weren't all over the place, but Adam knew where to look when we expressed hunger. 

Authentic Angkor Monkey

Approaching Angkor Thom

If you look at a map of Angkor complex, you'll easily recognize just how much larger Angkor Thom is than Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom, like Angkor Wat, had a surrounding moat. To cross the moat, they had what are called Naga Bridges. These ancient structures featured statues holding a long serpent, and the two sides are engaged in a type of tug of war.

Naga Bridge at Angkor Thom

At Angkor Wat, there are probably 3 temples that people are the most excited about seeing. First - Angkor Wat itself. Second - the Tomb Raider Temple made famous by the Angelina Jolie movie back in 2001. Third - the Bayon temple...otherwise known as the temple of faces. Inside the ancient city of Angkor Thom is where Bayon is located. This massive temple has numerous levels, but the most notable thing about this temple in addition to its architectural style are the 216 gigantic faces on the stone throughout the temple.

Bayon - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Bayon - can you see some of the faces? 

After Bayon, we didn't return immediately to Adam. The Angkor Thom complex is massive and there are many things to see besides the main temple. There is a large field that connects some of the other temples on the grounds and the famous Elephant Terrace. Just beyond the Elephant Terrace we found a corridor that shielded us from the scorching sun for just a few moments. We were delighted to find the most fascinating carvings and to enjoy a brief respite from the heat.

Baphoun Temple - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Elephant Terrace - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Our last stop for the morning was Ta Phrom, more famously known as the Tomb Raider Temple. There are two main reasons why this temple is so famous. First, because it's the location of the movie Tomb Raider, but secondly, because little has been done to restore/preserve this temple. You can see obvious signs where nature tried to reclaim this structure. Unlike the other temples, where conservationists have done some diligent work in removing the jungle overgrowth, one of the reasons they filmed the Jolie movie here is because it looks even more primitive and undiscovered or forgotten than the others. In several of my pictures below, you can see where the tree roots have grown over the rocks giving it a very "Indiana Jones" or "Tomb Raider" feel.

Approaching Ta Phrom - Cambodia

Famous spot inside Ta Phrom with tree growth over the temple

Ta Phrom reclaimed by nature - Cambodia

One of the Ta Phrom side structures with a tree growing out of the middle

After we finished climbing around Ta Phrom (I'm not sure how else to describe what we were doing. The stairs are steep and uneven. Many stones have fallen, and you can trip or roll your ankles at any moment if you don't step carefully), we noticed the crowds starting to pick back up. It was just after 9AM if you can believe it, but we already spent 4 hours in this massive place. As the sun grew hotter and we grew hungrier, we decided to head back to hotel for a late breakfast, a nap, and a swim.

We returned to Angkor Wat around 3:30 that afternoon. We went to Preah Khan and Ta Keo. Preah Khan had a lot of nooks and crannies to discover. Before we got here, I researched that the two best places to see the sunset were Phnom Bakheng where we tried to see sunset the previous night and Ta Keo. Since we had an epic fail at Phnom Bakheng, we planned to stay at Ta Keo for sunset on this particular evening. This massive temple is a bit off the beaten path, and on this hot May afternoon, we were two of the only tourists there. The stairs had not been restored and were choppy and uneven. In fact, I was so scared coming back down that I did so sitting on my bum. I've never been afraid of heights, but that place made me really uneasy for some reason. As sunset approached, I suddenly changed my mind, and decided I wanted to see my last sunset at the main Angkor Wat temple. We had seen sunrise that morning, and I thought that sunset would create some beautiful back lighting for the temple. What I failed to realize, however, is that they close the bridge to Angkor Wat at 5pm...just before sunset. We stayed as long as possible, but the guards kept shooing us off the bridge.

This is the best picture I could get before we were sent on our way.

Last glimpse of Angkor Wat as we departed

We could have gone back to Phnom Bakheng at that point, but remembering the lines from the previous day, I had no desire to go through that again.

Instead, we went back to the hotel, ordered dinner in our room, sat through a brief blackout, and went to bed.

Tomorrow, we'll head back to Bangkok for a day of R&R before heading to Malaysia.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Siem Reap & Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Day 1

The day finally arrived when we would land in Cambodia and get to see the famous Angkor Wat. For those of you who don't know, Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument complex in the world and dates back to the 12th Century. It has gone back and forth from being Hindu to Buddhist throughout its history, and is now one of the top reasons people visit this impoverished country. Many of the temples have not necessarily been restored, but at one point the jungle reclaimed many temples. Since then, nearly all of the vines and trees have been cleared away from the structures. Some of the temples have barriers preventing tourists from going into areas that are especially unsafe, but most of the temples still have incredibly steep stairs and few safety features. Many years of colonial rule and brutal leaders have nearly destroyed this country. In this and my next post, I will explain just how "third world" this country still is, and I was literally only there for a day and a half.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be so tantalizingly close to Angkor Wat and not make an effort to see it, but at the same time, I was really terrified to travel here. I researched more hotel options for these two nights than for any other part of the trip. Most hotels near Angkor Wat (which is several hours from any major city), cater to tourists and understand that Americans and Europeans are looking for package deals. Not to be cost effective (though that's a perk), but for convenience.

Flying, once again, out of the Don Meuang airport from Bangkok, we settled into our terminal which was located in the basement. Early, as always, we watched the gate fill up with westerner after westerner. So many backpackers and other tourists had the same idea as we did apparently. When it came time to board the place, we went through the gate, got our boarding passes scanned, but then instead of going across a jet bridge or even going outside to the plane directly (which is common with smaller planes), we boarded a shuttle bus. Hmm...that's a new one. We then rode the shuttle bus for nearly several minutes as it drove us from the airport practically to the runway. Then we got off the bus and boarded the plane. So strange!

Heads up! If you ever decide to visit Cambodia, as Americans, we need entry visas...not just a regular passport. I decided to be proactive and arranged for our visas ahead of time even though I read that you could get your visa upon arrival (which is very different from other visa-requiring countries like China). But the process was very easy, and by getting them ahead of time, I was able to print extra copies, send a copy to my parents, etc. AND, when we finally arrived at the airport, almost no one on our plane got their visas ahead of time, so the visa line quickly grew very long. Since we already had ours, we bypassed that line, and went straight through. (Side note - I was also glad I printed extra copies because the immigration officer accidentally took my entry and exit visa which means I would have had to fill out extra paperwork upon exiting if I didn't have an extra copy).

We flew into the small regional airport of Siem Reap. It takes about 20 mins to get from the town of Siem Reap to the Angkor temple complex. I wanted to find a hotel that was somewhere in between the two. Honestly, nothing that I researched cost more than $180/night (which by my own self proclaimed travel standards isn't too expensive). At the same time, however, we traveled to SE Asia during "off season", so I did expect prices to be more affordable than that. I also found several hotels/guest houses that were in the $50-$60 range. I settled on a place that was somewhere between the two and met all of my requirements.

The hotel I finally picked was called Pavillon d'Orient Boutique-Hotel. For $115/night, our accommodations came with the following: junior suite room with a/c, airport transfer, breakfast, and a personal tuk tuk driver. I had also read ahead of time that this hotel had incredibly cheap laundry service. Since our stay occurred right around the middle of the trip, we definitely took advantage of that. We had 8 articles of clothing laundered for less than $10. The hotel also had an on-site restaurant at which we dined several times.

All of the reviews said not to be alarmed by the neighborhood. That the hotel is very safe and that they lock the perimeter gates at night. #truth. When the driver took us through the gates of the hotel, we really felt like we stepped into another world. And for that, we were very grateful. The entire hotel is open air, but the rooms have personal a/c units. This only became an issue during the nightly power outages. They warned us about them, and during both nights, we definitely experienced a few outages that made for some broken REM cycles. Still, power outages are common in the country, so it's not like other hotels would have been any better off.

When we arrived at the Siem Reap airport, our driver had the biggest sign with our name on it. He drove us the short distance to the hotel, and we got our first taste of what a developing country truly looks like. The huts or poor excuses for structures that were supposed to be houses were truly shocking. We passed many roadside stands selling cooked meat or strange 2 liter bottles that looked like they contained sun tea or lemonade (more on that later).

Through the doors of the Pavillon d'Orient, however, the world changed. Like U Chiang Mai, the lobby was open air and surrounded by beautiful, lush plants and flowers. Upon arrival, they brought us a cold welcome drink (usually apple juice), and carefully explained all of the services included and extra that the hotel provided.

We settled into our room (picture below) and relaxed for a few hours. We got to the hotel right around lunch, and we couldn't get into Angkor Wat that evening until 5pm (if you're staying for multiple days, there are other temples you can visit besides the Angkor ones. They're a little farther away, but I read rave reviews about them). We purchased single day tickets for our full day at Angkor Wat, but they have a really neat offer that you can pick up your tickets for your scheduled day at 5pm the day BEFORE your scheduled day which enables you see the sunset at the temple without buying a second day ticket. Also because many people go to Angkor Wat for sunrise, you have to get your tickets the night before because you don't want to be standing at the ticket office (if it's even open) at 4:30 in the morning risking missing the sunrise.

Since we had some time to kill, we took advantage of room service. A quick word about currency. Cambodia does indeed have their own currency, but around the Siem Reap area, they use American money. We paid for our tickets in US Dollars, the hotel rate was in US dollars, all of the pricing we saw everywhere had both the local currency cost and the cost in $$, which we found very convenient. Also, since we were visiting 4 countries on this trip, it was nice to have at least one place where we didn't have to change money.

Another tip - when visiting Cambodia, bring lots of small bills. It's a very poor country, so $5 or $10 tips go a long way!

Ok, where was I? Ah yes, relaxing at the hotel. They did not charge an extra fee for room service, and most dishes were only $5 or $6, so we happily called and had lunch in our cooled room. Some of the dishes weren't huge, but they were delicious. Chicken or shrimp in some sort of coconut/curry sauce with white rice. We also took advantage of the pool. I actually believe there were two on the grounds, but we enjoyed taking a refreshing dip. It's amazing, though just how hot it was. Even in the pool, we tried to find shade because of the sun glare (and fear of sunburn).

At 4:00, we called the front office and asked them to arrange a tuk tuk for us for the evening. At 4:30, Adam arrived who would be our driver for the rest of our stay. Adam was awesome! He drove us all over, knew lots of things about the temples, always had cold water available for us, and always gave us a clear place where to meet him. But more on that in my next post.

When we first met Adam, he drove us from the hotel to the Angkor temple complex. This gave us our first real taste of Cambodian roads. Sure, we rode in the back seat of a car from the airport, but being in an open tuk tuk really gave us a sense for the way of things. (A tuk tuk is a 2 person carriage being pulled by a motor bike. In the old days it was pulled by hand or by a bicycle.) They don't go terribly fast, but fast enough that the breeze kept us from being too sweaty.

It was in the tuk tuk on our way to the temple that we realized that the roads had no lanes. Oh sure, there was a line down the middle for traffic going in both directions, but if there was no oncoming traffic, the drivers made their own lanes. Bikes were on the far right, then motorbikes and tuk tuks in the middle with cars on the left going around the slower traffic. If any oncoming traffic threatened, the cars would squish back over to the right forcing all of the other drivers to slow down and get into 2 lanes. It was sheer insanity.

When we arrived at the Angkor complex, we got our tickets for the next day, and then Adam drove us to the famous "sunset" temple, Phnom Bakheng. We waited in line for over an hour to climb the stairs to the sunset perch. The guards only let so many people at the top, so no one could go up until other people came back down. By the time we got to the top, the sun had already set, and it was too hazy for there to be any sunset color in the sky. #sunsetfail.

View of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng - supposedly at sunset...

Lunch at the Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Junior Suite at Pavillon d'Orient - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Waiting in line for sunset at Phnom Bakheng

After sunset, we asked Adam to drive us into the actual town of Siem Reap. Since we were heading back to Angkor Wat for sunrise the next morning, we would miss breakfast at the hotel. He didn't quite understand what we meant by "minimart" but we we got into town, we were able to point to one and he stopped for us.

Wow! Siem Reap! What a crazy place. Picture a normal city (or what you think a normal European/Asia city would look like). Picture a traffic intersection where you would expect to see a traffic light or roundabout. In Cambodia...nothing. Intersections were first come, first served. When you got to an intersection, you just kept going and tried to pay attention enough that you didn't hit the person coming at you from the street perpendicular to yours. Holy cow!

At the minimart, everything was very expensive. We found some fresh, sweet rolls that we bought with American dollars and they gave us Cambodian riel as change.

Back at the hotel, we ate dinner in the open air restaurant despite the heat and turned in early. Shocker, I know! Haha! But, if we're going to see sunset the next day, we had to get up literally before the crack of dawn.

In my next post, I'll tell you all about our day exploring the magical, mythical Angkor temple complex. It's absolutely incredible. I hope my account of it does it justice.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 3

After a fun filled day in Chiang Mai with tigers and elephants, we turned in early and easily woke up the next day around 5:30. Our breakfast scheduled for 6:15 once again didn't arrive until 6:30. The enormous platter at U Chiang Mai consisted of scrambled eggs with onions and peppers, potatoes, baked beans (a UK breakfast food that I love), toast, yogurt, fruit, danishes, sausage, canadian bacon, cappuccino and juice. It was soooooo much food. Unfortunately, none of it was exceptional, but we certainly didn't turn up our noses at it.

We took a taxi from central Chiang Mai back to the airport around 8AM and arrived WAY too early for our second Air Asia flight. The date was Saturday, May 9. Our plan at this point was to head from Chiang Mai over to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, there were no flights that went from Chiang Mai to Siem Reap without stopping in Bangkok. So, I thought that rather than rush from one place to the next (I thought I learned my lesson from Germany), we would stop back in Bangkok for the day and have some R&R. I realized when we were there, however, that instead of it being a relaxing day, it was another single night in a strange hotel and 2 flights back to back. The flights weren't long, but we did spend a lot of time in airports.

One of the main reasons for spending an extra day in Bangkok at this particular time, however, was the famous Chatuchatk weekend market in the northern part of the city. Only open on the weekends (hence the name), our first few days in Bangkok were during the week. (Side note - there is one classic Thai experience that we didn't do, that I feel I should mention. Floating markets used to be a staple in historic Thai culture. The ones we read about or the ones close enough to visit from Bangkok had become huge tourist traps. If you're interested in seeing one, you'll have to make the effort to get far enough outside the city to see an authentic one.)

It's also worth noting that when we flew internationally from the United States to Bangkok, we flew into the Suvarnabhumi Airport, officially known as the Bangkok Airport. This is the new international airport that just opened not too long ago. Prior to that, the main Bangkok airport was the Don Mueang Airport. This airport is still in use and used by budget airlines for shorter flights. When you're taking a taxi to the airport, you need to be specific about from which airport you're departing.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, back in Bangkok for the weekend market. Since I knew this is was our main activity for the day, I picked a hotel in a good location to the market, and this particular hotel even had a shuttle just for the market. For our second Bangkok hotel, we picked the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao Bangkok. (I've hyperlinked my review if you care to read it.) It was the cheapest hotel we stayed at (about $95/night), and was a very nice hotel. The only negative was that the shuttle had no return service. It dropped us off at the market, and then we had to find our own way back. The hotel is too far north (hence the lower price) to make it terribly desirable for sightseeing the rest of the city, but for our purposes, the location suited us.

They allowed us to check in around noon (early!) and we booked the 2:00 shuttle. In the meantime, we took a covered walkway over to the Central Plaza (mall!) and got some lunch.

What a crazy place, this market! Thankfully, they prohibited smoking, though there were plenty of other strange odors. The market has a main strip of outdoor stalls, and then a vast network of covered stalls. Unfortunately, about 10-15 minutes after we arrived, it started pouring down rain. The air always feels a little fresher while it's raining, so we hung out near the exterior stalls because the interior stalls were still stifling. The rain storm lasted the better part of an hour, so at one point, we did venture through the inside alley ways.

Chatuchatk Weekend Market - Bangkok, Thailand

Downpour at the Chatuchatk Weekend Market

The stalls had everything imaginable. Food, clothes, terrible designer knockoffs, ceramics, flowers, etc. Only the San Pedro market in Cusco, Peru seemed to have a wider variety of wares.

My husband purchased some balls of dough that contained a sweet mango/nut goo. Yes, that's the official description. Haha! I got a grape ice pop from a random old lady with a barrel. (Side note - that was a very dumb thing to do! Have you ever heard of the traveler's bug?? Just wait until my section on Singapore...and you'll understand.)

I also bought some trinkets. I got a mini Buddha, a golden elephant and a magnet for our Tae kwon do master.

Since it had rained so much, we found transportation in limited supply. We decided to walk back to our hotel. The heat made the walk very unpleasant though we enjoyed the scenery. Well...most of it. We walked through a lovely park that had a beautiful pond. Here is the conversation that ensued.

Me - Wait a minute? Do you see that?
J - What IS that?
Me - Is that some sort of hose or filter system?
J - Do you see the color of that pond? That's not a filter.
Me - Uh...then what is it?
J - I think we should leave...and quickly....
Me - Why? <<gasp>> please tell me that's not a snake...
J - Well, I can't exactly tell if it's a python or a boa, and I don't really care to find out.

Friends, I do not jest. We stood in the middle of this park in Thailand, and saw the. single. biggest. snake. I have ever seen in my life.

We arrived back at the hotel drenched in sweat and fear. We showered, and then headed back across the walkway to find dinner and breakfast for the next day.

Walking to the Central Plaza from our hotel - Bangkok, Thailand

After indulging in some Thai pizza for dinner, we took a walk around and found a food market in the basement. This reminded me much of the huge Japanese super malls. These high-rise shopping centers had everything you could possibly want to buy from clothing to television sets, but the basement always contained a food market.

For dessert, we found these amazing cream-filled corn cakes. There were 8 in the little bag that we bought, and they were some of the most delicious little cakes I've eaten in my life!

Cream filled corn cakes in Bangkok, Thailand

Off to Cambodia tomorrow. I was incredibly anxious about this portion of the trip, but also the most excited. Angkor Wat is something I've wanted to see for years, though I never thought I would ever actually get there.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler